Flight is a concert overture for large orchestra (2222/4431/T+3/Strings.  It soars, it flees, it chases, it ends with a bang.

Flight

This is a live performance from November 1995 by the University of Utah Philharmonia in Maurice Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City under the direction of then-Director of Orchestras, Robert Debbaut (DMA, U Michigan).  Debbaut studied with Gustav Meier and Neeme Järvi

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 5 (Utah Philharmonia, Robert Debbaut, conductor)

This live and unedited recording from May of 1997 is the Utah Philharmonia in a concert from the Walk Festival Hall, Teton Village, Wyoming.

SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 12, "The Year 1917," Robert Debbaut, conductor

Robert Debbaut 
(born 1956)

SUICIDE REQUIEM
For SATB Chorus, Baritone Soloist, and Orchestra

In March of 2020 an old friend's only child killed himself.  Those who knew him and his wife rallied from across the world to send out messages of comfort, as if ANY comfort would help.  I began to compose to try and wrap my head around the "why" of it all.  How would I feel if it were my child?  Roman Catholicism considers suicide to be a mortal sin, one for which there is no redemption.  I disagree.

This work is not pretty.  The raw emotions of suicide are contemplated.  There is an under presence and subtext of evil throughout the work, as well as plenty of anger, and at the end, all twelve tones enwrap the soul of the departed to take him to the great unknown.

Suicide Requiem lasts 21:18.  Below are timings for each section.  The composition program has a really lousy choral sound.

TEXT and TIMINGS
Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine (Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord, 0:00 – 2:30)
et lux perpetua luceat eis. (and let perpetual light shine upon them. 2:30 – 5:15)
Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion, (A hymn, O God, becometh Thee in Zion (5:15 – 6:03);
et tibi reddétur votum in Ierúsalem,	 (and a vow shall be paid to Thee in Jerusalem 6:03 – 7:45).     
(Vita detestabila)	(Detestable life, 7:45-7:58)).
Et tibi reddétur votum in Ierúsalem,	 (And a vow shall be paid to Thee in Jerusalem 7:58 – 8:44),               
Ierusalem, Sancta civitate, Promissa civitas paradisi   (Jerusalem, holy city of promises and paradise   8:44- 9:20)                                               
Exaudi orationem meam: (Hear my prayer: 9:20 – 13:05)
Requiem (13:05 – 14:09) 
Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine: (Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord, `14:09 – 15:30)
et lux perpetua luceat eis.	(and let perpetual light shine upon them. 15:30 – 16:56)
Luceat! (Shine 16:56 – 17:07)

In memoria æterna erit illi:	  In memoria aeterna nos dolere, Damnatio in animam viventem (They shall be in everlasting remembrance.  We shall be in everlasting regret and pain,   In living damnation (17:07 – 18:49)
Grata, Domine, animas omnium defunctorum, in lucis æternae beatitudine perfrui.  (Welcome, O Lord,
the souls of all the departed to enjoy the bliss of everlasting light. 18:49 – 19:41)
Pacem (Peace . 19:41 – 20:14) 
Dona eis requiem.  Luceat! (Grant them rest.  Shine! 20:14 – 20:56)
Pacem (Peace. 20:56 – 21:20)

Suicide Requiem by Robert Debbaut (2021)

Live and unedited from November 1996 in Maurice Abravanel Hall, Salt Lake City, the Utah Philharmonia under its then-Music Director Robert Debbaut, with Julie Wright Costa (the Marschallin), Jennifer Johnson Larson (Sophie), and Mary Ann Dresher (Octavian), the complete second half of Act III of Richard Strauss' beloved "Der Rosenkavalier."

STRAUSS:  Der Rosenkavalier Finale (Robert Debbaut, conductor)

Live and unedited from Spring 1996, the University of Utah Philharmonia under its then-Music Director, Robert Debbaut, performed this overture once again, this time as an encore for an all-Russian program.

SHOSTAKOVICH Festive Overture

Written for solo flute, string quintet, and piano obbligato, this concertino is about ten minutes in length and has yet to be premiered.  Its initial inspiration came from a work composed in 2007 for solo cello, strings, and piano entitled "OK."  Adapting THAT work for flute was, well, a challenge.  The shell of this music has also been adapted for solo tenor sax and chamber orchestra under the title "Concertino for Tenor Sax and Chamber Orchestra" (catchy, huh?)  For more info about score and parts, or recordings of the TS concertino and OK please e mail me at debbaut@gmail.com.  Thanks for listening.

Concertino for Flute, String Quintet, and Piano (2021)

Louise Farrenc (née Jeanne-Louise Dumont; 1804-1875), composer, pianist, and music historian,  was the only woman to hold a music professorship at a major conservatory (Paris) in 19th Century Europe--the ONLY woman.  She composed symphonies, chamber music, songs, and piano works, this Opus 19 "Souvenir des Huguenots" being one of them.  The Huguenots were the viciously persecuted French Protestants, and their "souvenir" (memory) is Martin Luther's time-honored anthem "Ein Feste Burg ist unser Gott (A Mighty Fortress is Our God)." 

This is a fairly early work, likely dating from the late 1820s.  I felt this work would function extremely well for the modern wind ensemble and have done my best to make it sound like the wind bands of the 19th Century.  What do you think?  I am almost finished with another arrangement of her "Valse brillante."

FARRENC - Debbaut - -Souvenier Des Huguenots

Six minutes of "ZOWIE!!!" Scored for orchestra 2222/4431/T+3/Strings.  Running is a great, energetic enthusiastic concert opener OR encore.

Running FULL

Robert Debbaut has led orchestras throughout the United States as well as in Central and North America, Asia and Europe, including the Chicago Chamber Orchestra, Chicago Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, Filharmonia Sudecka (Poland), Hartford Symphony, International Symphony Orchestra (Canada),  Kharkiv Philharmonic (Ukraine), Milwaukee Symphony, North Bohemian Philharmonic, Russia’s Great Novgorod Philharmonie, Saint Petersburg Classic Orchestra, and Yaroslavl Symphony, the San Juan Symphony, Shanghai Conservatory Orchestra, Utah Opera, Utah Symphony, and the National Symphony of Guatemala where he has been a frequent guest during the past two decades.  He studied with Maurice Abravanel, Neeme Järvi, Gustav Meier and Helmuth Rilling and was in the last conducting class of Leonard Bernstein at the Tanglewood Music Center.  Robert Debbaut holds the degree Doctor of Musical Arts from the prestigious University of Michigan
 A composer and arranger as well, Dr. Debbaut’s recent works for orchestra include “Great New City, Flight, Running, and Suicide Requiem for chorus and orchestra, as well as “A Trilogy of Joy” on poems by Sara Teasdale for SSAA Chorus and piano, and Concertino for Flute, String Quintet, and Piano. He has also arranged the music of Mozart as well as Ukrainian Viktor Kosenko, Afro-Cuban virtuoso Joseph White, and Afro-Caribbean virtuoso Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges. His first book, “Mrs. Beach’s Symphony, an American Original” was published in October of 2016.

Robert Debbaut

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